Symbiosis with and mimicry of corals were facilitated by immune gene loss and body remodeling in the pygmy seahorse.

ABSTRACT: A remarkable example of symbiosis involves the pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti). It lives obligatorily on gorgonian corals, mimicking their polyps with pink coloration and skin protuberances. Unique for seahorses, pygmy seahorses retain juvenile paedomorphic stunted snouts, resembling the coral's polyps. We analyzed the tiny seahorse's genome revealing the genomic bases of several adaptations to their mutualistic life including substantial reductions in conserved noncoding elements that are associated with genes in the vicinity of those CNEs that are known to play a role in growth and metamorphosis-related pathways. Comparative RNA- and ATAC-Seq analyses during their ontogeny suggest that their stunted snout might result from craniofacial remodeling associated with hoxa2b<

SUBMITTER: Qu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12415253 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature